Rio Ferdinand has been talking about the possibility of the Premier League introducing Hydration breaks.
As with pretty much anything else he ever says, one thing for sure.
If Rio Ferdinand is arguing in favour of something, then I will be believing the opposite.
Hydration breaks at the 2026 World Cup have united all decent fans, all credible pundits and players (both current and retired).
In an otherwise very good World Cup overall, the Hydration breaks are the only big thing that is such a spoiler in matches.
Especially laughable when FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has claimed that the Hydration breaks are nothing to do with money.
When we all know that they are EVERYTHING about money, FIFA arranging the ‘Hydration’ breaks so that two very lucrative three minute bonus advertising spots during matches allow broadcasters, especially in North America to make hue amounts of extra cash.
At every World Cup the fans inside the stadiums boo the Advertising/Hydration breaks and those of us at home shout at the TV.
Rio Ferdinand having this to say about the Hydration/Advertising breaks at the World Cup finals and where else they could end up being used: “If all these players, if all these countries, if all these federations want the money, you have got to do a few things a bit differently. There has to be a bit of give and take somewhere and they [Hydration breaks] are not affecting the game that much. This is something I see maybe happening further around. It could go into the Premier League or La Liga…because it is more money. They’re going to look at it: ‘Let’s dig into it and find out how much more money came into the World Cup, to FIFA, just on these breaks’. So I am saying, what if it’s a hundred more million? The Premier League are doing it in that situation and I don’t blame them.”
If ever there was somebody who knew the price of everything and the value of nothing, it is Rio Ferdinand.
It didn’t take a genius to quickly realise what these Hydration breaks were in reality and the despicable Rio Ferdinand (remember how Rio Ferdinand stood up for Mike Ashley and slagged off the Newcastle United fans, simply because he was friends with Ashley and the then NUFC owner sold Ferdinand’s clothing range in his stores) isn’t even trying to hide that part of it.
FIFA clearly arranging it for the benefit of themselves and broadcasters, who wanted to generate huge amounts of extra cash by having three minutes of adverts in the middle of each half.
No matter how much rain, or how low the temperature, FIFA insisting that play is stopped so that adverts can be shown by the broadcasters. This especially applying to North America, where all of their native sports are organised so there is plenty of opportunity to fit in as many adverts as possible during the action.
All true football fans seeing this as an abomination to turn our sport into four quarters.
Thankfully, far more credible people than Rio Ferdinand are prepared to call this out for what it really is…
Marcelo Bielsa is Uruguay Head Coach and he has said: “Playing four periods instead of two, alters the culturally constructed conception of how to interpret football, in my view it adds nothing and takes away a lot. When it was divided into four periods [for this 2026 World Cup], no thought was given to the effect it might have on what makes football such a captivating sport, but instead to other repercussions.”
Whilst Paraguay boss Gustavo Alfaro also tells it how it is: “It is a commercial break, it is not a hydration break, the game is getting out of hand.”
The more people that refer to it as advertising breaks the better.
I would love it if at all the matches, the players agreed to ignore the ‘hydration’ breaks when the referees stop the game, certainly midway through the first half. It would be great to see all 22 players just stay on the pitch hands on hips, making clear they need no hydration break and that they and the fans just want to see play continue without these ridiculous extra lengthy interruptions.